This invention relates to an impact protection device for a motor-vehicle member mounted protrudingly beneath the body of the motor vehicle.
The invention applies particularly to the protection of motor-vehicle traction batteries.
Motor-vehicle traction batteries are designed to be installed beneath the body of the motor vehicle, in an underbody section extending towards the front of the vehicle from a back wall of the luggage compartment of the motor vehicle. The traction battery may be suspended beneath the body of the motor vehicle such that, depending on the battery and/or vehicle body arrangements, the battery may be in a prominent underbody position along the vertical axis of the vehicle such that it is not protected by any other rear member of the motor vehicle and, in particular, by any structural body element, able to protect the battery from obstacles on the ground that are both lower than the luggage-compartment back wall and taller than the low point of the traction battery. This configuration poses a risk to the physical integrity of the traction battery during particular maneuvers of the motor vehicle, for example, when reversing onto a sidewalk or towards a boundary stone.
Furthermore, if this battery is removable so that it can be replaced for example at a battery exchange station such as the one described in document U.S. Pat. No. 5,612,606, the need to provide easy access to the traction battery, which must be quickly and easily removable, precludes the possibility of including a protection element that would be installed directly beneath the traction battery.